The Miami Dolphins can finally say they aren’t a losing team during this 2021 season.
It’s been a long road, but courtesy of Sunday’s 31-24 win over the New York Jets, for at least one week, the Dolphins are back to .500 at 7-7 on the year.
One more win and the Dolphins are legitimately in the mix for an AFC playoff berth heading into the regular season’s final games.
Here are some more takeaways from Sunday’s win over the Jets:
Dolphins get back to .500
It’s been a long two months of digging themselves out the 1-7 hole the seven-game losing streak created, but it appears the Dolphins are finally on the verge of getting on the winning side of the season ledger. With Sunday’s win, the Dolphins have an opportunity to produce a winning record and get into the playoff mix if they can beat the Saints in New Orleans on Monday Night Football on Dec. 27. — Omar Kelly
Tua Tagovailoa’s turnovers return
The last time Tagovailoa threw a bad interception was in mid-November in Miami’s win over the Jets, and it seems like Robert Saleh’s defense brings out the worst in the Dolphins’ second-year quarterback. Tagovailoa’s first pass on the second possession of the game was thrown right to safety Ashtyn Davis, which allowed the Jets to start the drive on the 25-yard line. The Jets turned that turnover into 3 points. And then in the fourth quarter Tagovailoa threw a pick-six to Jets cornerback Brandon Echols that tied the game at, 24-24.
Dolphins pummel Jets on the ground
Miami has been committed to the run game lately, averaging 28 carries per game during the team’s six-game winning streak. On Sunday against the Jets they saw the fruits of their labor as the Dolphins produced a season-high 183 rushing yards on 42 carries. Sunday’s performance was the fifth time the Dolphins have gained more than 100 rushing yards this season, and exceeded Miami’s previous high of 133 rushing yards, which was set in the overtime loss to the Raiders.
Christian Wilkins has epic TD celebration
It’s not often that a defensive lineman gets a chance to celebrate a touchdown, but Wilkins’ 1-yard touchdown catch that gave Miami a 24-17 lead early in the fourth quarter inspired an epic celebration. Not only did the 6-foot-4, 310-pounder jump into the end zone stands to celebrate with the fans. But when he returned to the field he did the worm, and then finished off his celebration with a windmill break dance move.
Nik Needham works at free safety
Needham, a third-year cornerback who has played multiple roles for the Dolphins since joining the team as an undrafted free agent, filled in as Jevon Holland’s replacement at deep safety against the Jets and helped Miami’s secondary overcome the loss of their leader in the back end of the defense. This wasn’t the first time Needham has played safety this season, but he’d never handled this many snaps at the position. Needham finished the game with five tackles.
Duke Johnson resurrecting his career
Johnson, a former University of Miami standout who grew up in Miami Gardens in the shadows of Hard Rock Stadium, got the call up to the 53-man roster because of the COVID-19 outbreak that swept through the tailback unit. Even though Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed were cleared to play, the Dolphins went with Johnson as the featured back and he produced the best rushing performance of the season, gaining 107 yards on 22 carries and scoring two rushing touchdowns. Johnson also caught one pass for 20 yards.
Isaiah Ford compensates for absence of Jaylen Waddle
Ford replaced Waddle as the Dolphins’ slot receiver and turned in one of his best NFL performances, contributing 51 yards on three catches. A couple of those receptions were highlight-reel worthy plays for Ford, a former seventh-round pick who has repeatedly worked his way up from the practice squad and survived being cut numerous times by the Dolphins.
Dolphins need to shop for returner
Tommylee Lewis’ emergence as Miami’s return specialist in a week where Waddle and Holland, the two players who have handled punt returns since Jakeem Grant was traded to Chicago in October, shows that Miami needs to add returner to the wish list for the offseason. Neither Waddle or Holland have been effective in that role, and both rookies are also too valuable on offense and defense to risk getting injured on a return.
Dolphins allowed 100 rushing yards
The Dolphins had become a stingy run defense since Raekwon Davis returned from the knee injury that sidelined him for the first month of the season, but the Jets had their way against Miami’s defensive front early on Sunday. The Jets finished the game with 102 rushing yards on 24 carries, and scored two rushing touchdowns. The Jets became the second team to rush for 100 yards against Miami twice this season, joining the Buffalo Bills.
Jerome Baker turning into sack artist
One of the most under-utilized aspects of Jerome Baker’s game is his ability to blitz effectively, timing up the snap just right and shooting the gaps to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Baker, who produced seven sacks last season, has been able to blitz more often now that Miami’s using him as an outside linebacker more. Against the Jets on Sunday he recorded two sacks.
Comeback keeps possibility of a 10-win season — and playoffs alive
The Dolphins got a wonderful rally from both their defense and run game behind a dominant offensive line performance after a gross first quarter and kept alive their playoff hopes very much alive. According to fivethirtyeight.com, a 10-7 finish by Miami would give the Dolphins a 75% chance of making the playoffs. A loss to the Jets would have resulted in de facto elimination (0.6%). A loss at New Orleans would be hurtful, but at least if Miami finishes 9-8 with that being the blemish, there will be many more tiebreak scenarios that would work for them. — Steve Svekis
Meet Brian Flores, Mr. Holidays
If the Dolphins only played in the months of Thanksgiving and Christmas, they might have won a Super Bowl already for coach Flores. With the win over the Jets, the third-year coach improved to 8-3 in December, which comes on the heels of his 10-3 in November. Of course, he needs to figure out how to prepare his team for the warmer months, because in the rest of his coaching career, he is an unsightly 4-18.
The Dolphins run defense keeps humming along
The Dolphins extended a club-record streak of most games in a row with 102 or fewer rushing yards allowed in a game to nine, further extending past the franchise’s previous best such streak of six, established in 1999. During that streak, Miami has yielded an elite-level 87.1 yards a game. Entering Week 15, the Dolphins were eighth in the NFL, allowing 103.8 yards a game. That number was shaved to 103.7 with the 102-yard allowance to Gang Green.
Zach Sieler packed a lot of punch per snap
In his typical spot duty, Sieler, broke up a touchdown pass, forced a fumble, logged a sack and put an additional hit on Jets QB Zach Wilson. While the Jets felt like they had something going against the defense in the loosely played first half, he was a needed standout.
Emmanuel Ogbah saw the bat signal again
After not getting a paw on a pass against the Giants, breaking a seven-game streak of having at least one batted pass, Ogbah rejected Wilson in the second half Sunday to establish a career high for a season, with nine. In 2018 while with the Browns, Ogbah led the league with eight.
Tua Tagovailoa needs to make a divisional statement
The Jekyll-Hyde outing on Sunday, where Tagovailoa had a terrible four turnover-worthy plays (an interception, a fumble at the RPO meshpoint and two other incompletions that hit two hands of Jets defenders), continued an uninspiring run against the teams Miami plays most often. In seven of his career starts against teams from the AFC East, Tagovailoa has had a passer rating below 80 in six of them (75.5 against the Jets on Sunday). The offense’s best scoring output in those games has been the 31 points Sunday and the 26 against the Bills in the 2020 season finale, but even those have been marred by the offense giving away a touchdown in each on pick-sixes. Tua will have a huge opportunity in the season finale against the also-in-the-playoff-mix Patriots.
The strength of opponent is about to solidify
The bottom line is, it is hard to fully evaluate the quarterback position when Miami has played the schedule it has during Tagovailoa’s stewardship. The opponents he has faced, especially since the 17-16 season-opening victory at New England, have been largely atrocious.
For context, the team with the weakest opponent win % headed into Week 15 was the Tennessee Titans, at .427. Entering the 4 p.m. window in Week 15, the opponents the Dolphins faced with Tua taking the snaps owned a putrid .370 win percentage, made up of playing the 3-11 Jets twice and the 9-5 Patriots, 8-6 Bills, 2-12 Jaguars, 6-8 Falcons, 5-9 Panthers and 4-10 Giants with in essence half a game played between his outings at Hard Rock Stadium against the 8-6 Ravens and Bills, the lion’s share of those 34 minutes against Baltimore. A below-median 94.3 passer rating against that schedule is underwhelming.
As it turns out, backup Jacoby Brissett played against the teeth of the schedule up until now, with that opponent win percentage (6-7 Raiders, 8-6 Colts, 10-4 Buccaneers, 3-11 Texans and his half against 8-5 Baltimore) at .520 thus far. Next up? Three teams with a combined 25-17 record (.595) with two of the games on the road.
Lamar Jackson has not been the same since playing the Dolphins
Entering the Nov. 11 contest at Hard Rock Stadium, the former youth star from Broward and Palm Beach counties was in the MVP conversation as he combined a 96.2 passer rating with a gaudy 600 rushing yards on only 97 carries (6.19 yards per run). He was getting sacked at a three-times-a-game rate. However, including the Dolphins matchup — where Jackson was held to 238 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception, and was sacked four times in a 22-10 Miami win — Jackson has had a 65.8 passer rating, has been sacked 3.5 times a game, has only run for 167 yards on 36 totes (4.64 ypr). Also, he has missed games against the Bears and Packers. The NFL season is a long road.
The Dolphins actually snapped a losing streak Sunday
Miami broke a four-game skid when wearing their aqua jerseys and aqua pants as the ensemble. The first time the Dolphins went all-aqua was in 2002, a 27-9 Monday Night Football win over the Chicago Bears. Following a 22-9 win in 2014 over the Bills on a Thursday night game, Miami was 3-1 in the combo. Since then, though, Miami had been 0-4. So, Sunday’s victory improved the Dolphins to 4-5 when suiting up in the all-aqua.
On deck: New Orleans Saints, Monday, Dec. 27, 8:20 p.m., Mercedes Superdome
The Saints will be coming off a game without their head coach, Sean Payton, who was sidelined by a positive COVID test. The Dolphins haven’t beaten the Saints in 16 years, when Nick Saban took his squad to his old stomping grounds and won at LSU 21-6 in a game moved because of Hurricane Katrina. Miami has won in the Superdome once, 35 years ago, when Dan Marino connected with his running backs and tight ends for 161 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-27 victory.